Improvement in fire-arms



'E. LINDNER.

Revolver. No. 17,382. Patented May 26, 1857.

to fifty cartridges.

Nrrnn TTES DWARD LINDNER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN FlRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. l 7,3 2,- dated May 26, 1857.

To all'whom ttmay concern.- I

-Be it knownthat I, EDWARD LINDNEB, of

Improvements in Fire-Arms; and .1 hereby dc:

clare that the following is afull, clear, and

exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which' Figures 1, 2, 3, 4; 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 850., represent elevations, sections, and plan views of my improvement.

Figs. 1 and 2 show the internal construction of a magazine repeating-gun, having below the barrel an extra-charge barrel, which, according to-its length, contains from thirty Between the gun and charge-barrel is a rack,in connection with a piston or slide, wwhich acts upon the cartridges,.

and which rack is again in connection with .the gun-lock, in such a mannerthat each time the gun is fired off one of the cartridges issite the nipple, and are put on the same by the hammer itself at the moment the gun is fired oli', while the exploded cap is thrown ofi" from the nipple when the gun is cooked.

A is the barrel of the gun, which is at its after end screwed to the frame in such a manner that its bore corresponds exactly with the openings in the revolving breech piece D.

B isthe cartridge or charge barrel, and is likewise fastened to the frame. It is made of thin metal, and is provided with two slots, h h, (see Figs. 3, 8, and 10,) extending throughout the whole length of said barrel, or nearly so, and which serves as guide to the slide or piston WV.

The rack E is situated between the two barrels A and B, the latter being connected by means of two or more side plates.

0' is the frame, which contains the revolving breech-piece, the gun-lock spring, &c., and is furnished with two projections, 0, Fig. 1.

The revolving breech-piece D has six cham ,the stop-pin 0, Figs. 1 and 2, plays, for the purpose of holding the breech-piece in its.required position. In the center of the breechpiece a hole is'bored out, 'Fig. 13, having six spiral grooves, 10, which cause the revolutionof .thefbreech-piece when actuated by the cam or "book 12. Another recess, 9, Fig. 13, form ing an annular depression, wherein the grooves 11' terminate, allows the piece 1) to drop after' having passedthrough the spiral grooves.

F is a hollow shaft, upon which the revolvin g breech is-allowed to turn. Its bore is sufficiently large to give easy passage to the campiece G, and the width .of the slots 1' and s is so calculated as to allow the piece 11 to move in it..

The spring G which is'attached to the bevelrod Crests upon a smalllever-arm of the catch 1), and, by pressing it in permanent manner,- forces it to keep upright. p In the hollow part of the shaft F is a cylin drical rod, z, which is provided with a small spiral spring. The afterend of the rod 2 fits into the recesses of the catch 1), while its for-- ward end, which is furnished with a cross-pin, z, is held fast during part of the time the rack E with the rod G are moving, and thereby compresses the spiral spring around the rod 2, and gives, when released, the required motion.

On the rear of the rod G is a knee-piece, H, carrying a tooth-rack and a slot, h, which, by means of the key 0, is caused to travel in a direction parallel with the slot when moved by the segment K. The latter pivots on the pin J, upon which the cock L is fastened. The link 0' establishes the connection with segmental rack and thecock, and also with the mainsprin'g 0 and the catch P.

Q is the. trigger, having a' cam bearing on the catch 1?, and operates the whole mechanism now described.

The segment K has, at a, a link,T, jointed to it, which carries hammer or punch l. The latter is guided in the inortises d", so as to insure its rectilinear motion. The stop-bolt rod G, and is so arranged that by the cocking of the gun it passes under the bell-crank 0 without communicating any action to it, while when the gun is tired off it comes in con tact with the lower part of the bell-crank c, and acts on the stop-bolt 0, pressing it out of the recesses a 22, thus allowing the revolving breech-piece to be turned.

Figs. 5, 6, and 7 represent different views of the percussion-cap chamber and the man ner of feeding the caps, Fig. 5 being a section through line V VI. The pereussioncap chamber is placed immediately behind the breech-piece D, and is formed of two plates, at, having raised circular ribs, forming grooves wide enough to contain the caps. The two plates have a slot around the raised ribs, to allow the feeding-spring a" and its handle a to pass throng-hit. At the center they are held together by a hollow hub, which fits upon ahollow pivot. (Shownin Fig.14.) Thegroove for receiving the cap is circular, and terminates in front of the plug 1 and the hammer T, where the two plates at n are perforated.

a c d is a little crooked lever, with its fulcrum at 0. Its point it, passes through the feeding-groove, and is forced into it by a spring b. Its other end, (1, bears against the revolving breech D, and extends downward, so as to come in contact with the plugs ll when the breech turns. v

The outer end of the feedinggroove is armed with a spring-valve, d, to allow it to be opened when the cap-chamber is to be filled with caps. Next to this valve (1 there is a recess, 0, for the exploded caps.

X is a spring, which serves to clear the plugs of the remainder of the caps, and is made of such shape as to touch the plugs successively as they are presented to it; Itacts by its elasticity in pushing the fired cap off, which then drops into the recess 0.

The feeding-spring X is wound spirally around the hub of the cap-chamber, to which it is fastened, and extends to the outside of the case, where it terminates in a handle, X, which presses upon the caps.

Figures 8 andQrepresent a section through the line XV, XVI. It shows the hammer Y, with its spring g at its lower side, which corresponds with the holes a in the breech-piece D. It has its fulcrum at h in front of the frame 0, and extends withone arm toward G, while its other end bears against the spring g, which is secured to the frame 0, and forces the hammer out, by being moved by the pin 11.

An oblong opening, Z, in the front part of the frame, communicating with the holes a in the breech, serves the purpose of giving access to the-holes a when they are to be cleaned.

Fig. 10 represents a section through VII, VIII. Z is a spring-case, which is fastened below the gun-barrel. It consists of two tubes, 2, one on each side.

Fig. 17 represents a single nipple, armed' with cutters. These nipples are hollowed out, and have cross-cutters with sharp edges inserted.

Figs. 3 and 4 are a front and side view of a gun calculated for fortifications or marine purposes, or wherever its great weight is no objection. It contains five charge-barrels, B, each of which has a piston, w, and

valves, and are so arranged that the one first used can be removed from its place by turnin g it on hinges. in order to clean the revolving breech. This mode of using more than one charge-barrel is applicable with great advantage to short fire-arms, such as pistols of five inches in length, which can be so constructed as to lire from twenty to twcntyiive shots in succession.

Fig. 15 represents a rack required for guns or pistols harin g more than one charge-barrel. It consists of a series of cones turned onto a round rod. This rack touches all the surrounding charge-barrels, and gears into each of the pistons 10 and rammers. All the other parts are the same as above.

Fig. 16 is a detail of the trigger, which, instead of the gearing It, has a cam furnished with a curvilinear slot, y, which moves the piece G backward and forward by means of a screw, z. This trigger may also be adopted for pistols where but few charges are to be moved simultaneously.

Having now given a detailed description of all the parts constituting my improved magazine repeating pelCllSSlDll-OEI-P gun, I shall now describe its modes opowmdi.

In order to get a gun ready for firing the piston a must be taken out of the charge-barrel. This is done by pressing againstthe bottom 1* and loosening s from the rack E.' The cartridges are then let in one by one through the mouth of the barrel until full to the mouth. The piston is then replaced so that the pin 8 can work in the rack E. The trigger is then cocked three times, for the purpose of letting the charges enter the holes a in the breechpiece D until the first one is placed opposite to the gun-barrel A or else the first cartridge to begin with may be placed by hand into the breech-piece through the opening 2 of the frame (3; but this is only needed when all the charges are fired off, which is seldom the case. It would be advisable to leave three charges in the gun, and fill again the barrel before firing again. The filling of the barrel must always be done when the lock is in the position, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, after being fired oif.

In order to fire, the trigger L must be pulled whole row of caps to slide. on.

until the cam-lever P falls into the recess a, which is so placed that the rack E is moved a little beyond the pin 8, to mama-3 feeding" of the piston w. When the trigger is pivoting on its t'nlcrum' at J the knee-piece causes the rod and hammer G and E to slide back until the catch 3 drops into the next tooth of he rack, thewwo spiral springs being depressed and held in that position till the camlever P is pulled out of the notch w. p the feed-rack begins to move the lever-arm p stands upright'in front of the spiral grooves p and enters onepf them,and, as the arm 11 itself.

- is prevented from turning, causes the breech to turn one-sixth of a revolution.

are fed into the revolving breech-piece by The charges cooking the gun and discharging it, and the breech carries them successively in "front of the opening of the barrel.

The frame of the gun has two proiections,-c,

holding the revolvin g breech D and the pereussioircap chamber in the relative position shown in the annexed drawing, Figs. 1 and 2. Fig.1 shows the gun in a position after the charge has been fired ofi. The stopper 0 is sunk in its recess of the breech I). When, now, the trigger is pulled the lever 12 enters one of the spiral grooves p. The spring g strikes the bell-crank c, which moves it back one-sixth 7 around its fulcrum f, and draws the stop 0 from its recess u by depressing its spiral spring.

Then the lever 12 moves the breech forward, and i the spring y escapes and leaves the spiral spring to expand, which causes the stopper to bear against the rear side of the breech until it shall have completed itsmotion. Another nipple stands now in front of the feeding-hole in the chamber. The corresponding recesses have also arrived in front of the stoppers, which drop intosa-id recesses, thus holding the breech steadily in its position. During this one-sixtlrof a revolution the remainder of the discharged percussion-cap is removed by the spring X, which pushes it'eft' and throws it into the cavity 8. The percussion-cap chamber is so constructed and arranged that the caps are forced toward the hole through which they are fitted to the nip-' ple by the hammer T. The crooked lever a" c dflholds all the caps baclgexcept the last one, until the hammer has withdrawn from the cap-chamber. Then the motion of the breech causes the next nipple to strike against the arm of the lever a d" c at a, which raises the point 11/ oil the caps and allows the As soon as the nipple has left the arm at-d! the spring I) forces the point of thelever between the last cap and the last but one, thus stopping the whole series of caps, while it leaves the last one in. front of thcmipple. The spring will, in this manner,

feed alljtho-caps except the last four, and" when the spring strikes against a then it must be pulled back by its-handle, the valve opened, and the chamber refilled with caps,

which can be done best by aseparate percus- VVhen breech.

sion-cap'box 0* .a similar construction as that of the chamber. The action of the hammer is propagation of the igniting-spark Thee oss- I cutters may be adopted for every kindof gun or rifle intended to be used with cartridges, and

will enable to fire quicker, as the cartridges need not to be opened before they are. put into the-barrel. These cutters are made of steel and" hardened.

I have described agun having more than one charge-barrel. They are disposed at equal distances from the central rack, whichoperates all the pistons and rammers in succession.-

In order to use one of the charge-barrels at the time,'the pins 8 of all the barrels but one must be withdrawn from the teeth of the rack E. When all the charges of one barrel are used up, and when the piston M has descended to the frame 0, its pin 8" must thenbe withdrawn from the rack, and the pins ot'one of the other pistons w must be let loose and brought into the teeth of the rack, and so on until all carbines coi'istrnctedon the principle herein described, will prove to be a most ell'ectual fire-arm. The mode of carrying carbines, and more particularly when used by horsemen, is of such a nature that without some means of retaining the cartridges in thechambers of the breech they will unavoidably fall. out. I- have therefore constructed a plate,'as shown in Figs. 18, 19 and 20, which-is intended to cover the top of the breech-chamber. This plate is soshaped as to cover all openings but one, the latter having a register fitting-to it with precision, and pivoted on one corner, so as to move laterally, as shownin Fig.19. The chambers are filled by revolving the breech with the hand and by presentingeach chamher in succession to theregister. The .-can-,

tridge is entered and the register closed. All thecartridges are thus imprisoned .in the chambers.

Having now fully described my improvement, what I claim as my invention, and de sire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

purpose of retaining the cartridges in said chambers which do not face the barreh 4. I also claim the knee-piece H, lIl combination with the hammer L and'stop-bolt 0, the said parts being so arranged in relation to each other that by the act of cooking the gun the stop-bolts shall be withdrawn from the recesses of the breech, thus leaving it free to revolve, substantially as herein set forth.

in testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification before two subscribing witnesses.

EDWARD LINDNER.

Witnesses J OHN' t HOLLINGSHEAD, A. POLLAK. 

